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BELL RINGER DEADLINES

Regular Deadline: March 15

Late Deadline: March 20

Believe it or not, the PR Club’s Bell Ringer Awards are upon us again! Submissions will be accepted as early as February 5, with a final deadline of March 11. As you’re drafting your entries, join us for a panel discussion where last year’s Super Bell finalists will share their secrets to crafting a compelling, stand out submission. Finalists from SHIFT, Duffy & Shanley, and Tier One Partners will dive into the strategies and key elements that helped their submissions shine.

Panelists include:

• Celena Fine, Senior Vice President, Tier One
• Natalie Marinaro, Vice President, SHIFT Communications
• Emily Hollenbeck, Account Director, Duffy & Shanley
• Michael Dowding, Master Lecturer, Boston University and Freelance Writer, Wordscape Communications (moderator)

2023 Super Bell Finalists included:

Tier One Partners and Ally Financial (winner)

Consumer Campaign

Ally and Tier One Partners: Advancing the Primetime-ification of Women’s Sports

Despite record-breaking viewership, women’s sports are underrepresented in media. Ally and Tier One Partners sought to break the cycle by:

• Driving awareness around the inequity and opportunity within women’s sports 
• Taking the stage as an industry leader, encouraging brands to invest in women’s sports 
• Making Ally synonymous with the advancement of women’s sports

First, Ally made a first-of-its-kind commitment at espnW’s Women + Sports Summit to reach equal (50/50) spending in advertising across women’s and men’s sports by 2027. Then, with CBS and the NWSL, Ally made history by moving the Women’s Soccer Championship game to primetime on CBS — the first time a women’s championship game in any sport was aired on a major network in primetime. The campaign secured 166M+ media impressions, including stories in The New York Times’ The Athletic, Fortune, and Business Insider. Ally also experienced impressive increases in brand awareness and affinity.

SHIFT Communications

Brand Building/Rebranding B2B Campaign

Earning Top Attention around Hiring, Retention & DEI

As the Great Resignation created a mass exodus of employees, companies in every sector scrambled to retain and hire talent. As the focus on hiring spiked, so did the noise from recruiting technology providers, all vying for share of voice. In this brand-building campaign, SHIFT Communications helped Lever find a compelling and ownable perspective focused on DEI and Gen Z, which was informed by intensive media analysis. The result: Lever earned top attention, with hundreds of pieces of coverage in top target outlets. The campaign grew brand awareness, established authority around hiring and DEI, reached key decision makers and even supported Lever in its ultimate goal of being acquired.

Duffy & Shanley

Integrated Marketing Communication Campaign

Talking Student Loans – Four Different Ways

At a staggering $1.7 trillion, student loan debt affects 1 in 5 Americans. It’s the second-largest consumer debt in the country, just behind mortgages. News headlines and recent consumer surveys point to the negative toll student loan debt is taking on Americans. Yet, student loans are necessary for many college-bound families. Enter College Ave Student Loans, a company founded less than 10 years ago that wants to flip the script on student loans and make the experience of getting a private student loan for college better. The experience is resonating with its borrowers with a 4.7 out of 5 stars for customer service. In this challenging student loan environment – debt at an all time high, industry stalwarts like Sallie Mae, and tepid press coverage – D&S saw an opportunity to use a robust integrated marketing approach to position College Ave as a trusted partner in student loan lending.